Another River Whirls Baby Quilt

Sometimes I can’t believe how time gets away from me! I started making another River Whirls baby quilt the first week of May and have just finished it. Was it hard? Nope, I just put it aside and forgot about it.

This past week, I spent part of two days working on the baby quilt and then it was finished!

I used a beautiful charm pack called Ava Kate from Carina Gardner and I love the colors in it.

Sometimes I make a mistake

Look closely at the quilt blocks, two of them are made the wrong way, sometimes I make a mistake.

I really should read my own tutorials before I start working on something. My memory isn’t as good as it used to be, I’ll blame that on age. LOL

All of the blocks have to be cut exactly the same. Here is my template and I just added the note “This side up” – hopefully this will help me so I don’t cut the pieces wrong when I decide to make another quilt with this block.

Quilt size is 32″ x 40″

The baby quilt is made with 4 blocks across and 5 blocks down and finishes as approximately 32″ x 40″. I made 20 quilt blocks and used 40 of the 5-inch squares in the charm pack. I didn’t add a border but you could if you wanted it bigger.

I decided to mix up the fabrics in the quilt blocks as I wanted to use as many of the 5-inch squares as possible.

This River Whirls tutorial has been converted into an optional PDF that has been optimized for printing and is 8 pages. It includes both River Whirls quilts.

Equipment

• Sewing Machine
• Basic Sewing Tools
• Thread
• Quilt Ruler
• Rotary Cutter
• Cutting Mat
• Clover Flower Head Pins
• Binding Clips
• Clapper – excellent for setting seams
• Wool Pressing Mat
• Lighting

Yardage:

• 1 – 5-inch charm pack
• 1-yard premium muslin for the background
• 1/4 yard for binding
• 1-yard backing
• batting

Cardboard backing from the charm pack set or a 5-inch square of cardboard to make the template. You can also download the template here.

• Pick (40) 5-inch squares from your charm pack
• Cut (40) 5-inch squares from the premium muslin
• Make your template, click on the image to download a pdf of it

• Place the template on top of your 5-inch squares and cut the squares
• ALWAYS have your fabrics with the right side up
• Make sure the template is facing the same way all the time
• Cut the pieces

• Sew the pieces together with a 1/4-inch seam allowance
• Overlap the edges by about 1/4 inch on each side (you don’t have to be exact as you’re going to trim the block
• Press the seam to the dark fabric

• Trim the block to 4½ inches square – using a ruler that size makes it easy.

Finished River Whirls quilt block

Sew 4 of the blocks together to make the River Whirls quilt block.

• Make 40 quilt blocks
• Sew 5 rows of 4 quilt blocks, then sew them together

Layout your backing and batting, pin and then quilt. I am using my 15-91 vintage Singer sewing machine.

I had enough of this floral red fabric to use for the back and binding, I think it is a good match.

Add your binding to finish the baby quilt.

I did a simple freemotion meandering to quilt it.

Rusty is getting better at posing by my quilts, he is such a cutie!

This River Whirls tutorial has been converted into an optional PDF that has been optimized for printing and is 8 pages. It includes both River Whirls quilts.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE PRINTABLE PDF

Tutorial for my original River Whirls

When I made my original River Whirls quilt I only made 15 quilt blocks and used 15 different fabrics for the blocks. I then added borders and the quilt finished at 30″ x 46″.

You will need:

• 15 pairs of 5-inch blocks (total of 30 blocks)
• 30 – 5 inch blocks of muslin
• 1 yard of muslin for borders
• 1/2 yd of stripe for binding

Grab a charm pack or cut up some of your stash into 5-inch squares. Most charm packs have 2 of each print like this charm pack of Lily & Loom Butterfly Blooms. I just bought this and will remake this quilt with this fun collection.

I used 2 charm packs of Spirograph by Benartex which only had 22 blocks – one of each print. I needed 2 blocks of each print.

Cut your blocks at the angle shown above.

Take your ruler and measure over 2 inches on the bottom and 3 inches on the top, then cut all of your blocks. (in the photo I removed the muslin off the left side so you could see the cutting line better.

Sew your pieces together as shown using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Press your block and then trim it to a 4½-inch square, using a 4½-inch square ruler makes it very easy to do.

Here are 4 blocks ready to be sewn together.

One block done – 14 more to go.

Layout your blocks in the following pattern.

Start sewing the rows together.

I wanted to make the baby quilt longer so I added a 2 ½” strip at the top and added another row of blocks.

I made 4 rows of 3 blocks then added a 2.5-inch strip and then the last row.

Then I added a 4-inch border on all sides of the quilt top.

I did a little flower design on the River Whirls.

The quilt finished at 30″ x 46″.

This River Whirls tutorial has been converted into an optional PDF that has been optimized for printing and is 8 pages. It includes both River Whirls quilts.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE PRINTABLE PDF

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